Highnam High
by Hes-electric
Summary: Thirty-three students and nine adults are stuck in a school for a whole week and cannot leave. They have no communication with the outside world and only one of the adults have the keys out of there. There's one problem. One of them is a killer.
1. Characters

**Highnam High**

Characters

Main Characters

**James Lemche **

- Sixteen

- The Writer

**Justine Evans **

- Sixteen

- The Photographer

**Lachlan Mayall**

Eighteen

The Actor

**Laura Betteridge**

Twenty-six

The Substitute

**Eilish Swan**

Sixteen

The Enthusiast

**Daniel Price**

Twenty-three

The Protector

Secondary Characters

**Adam Andrews**

Eighteen

The Twin

**Gary Andrews**

Eighteen

The Other Twin

**Richard Woods**

Sixteen

The Junkie

**Anne Winchester**

Seventeen

The New Kid

**Russell Brown**

Seventeen

The Sadist

**Ryan McDonald**

Sixteen

The Nerd

**Teaghan Jones**

Sixteen

The Gossipist

**Stefanie Jacobs**

Seventeen

The Wannabe

**Dylan Law**

Eighteen

The Jock

**Luke Woolford**

Seventeen

The Gamer

**Henry Kirks**

Fifteen

The Exchange Student

**Aleisha Michaels**

Fourteen

The Backstabber

**Graham Prime**

Forty-seven

The Principal

**Trish Jones**

Thirty-nine

The Parent

**Josh Coulter**

Twenty-nine

The PE teacher

**Cole Bryce**

Twenty-four

The Preacher

**Rachel Davis**

Twenty-three

The Student Teacher

**Matthew Turner**

Seventeen

The Guitarist

**Elaine DuVal**

Eighteen

The Slut

**Kimberley Hall**

Sixteen

The Shrew

**Helen Bell**

Sixteen

The Pianist

**Jill Priess**

Forty-two

The Librarian

**Sam Dale**

Eighteen

The Comedian

**Jade Torino**

Sixteen

The Plastic

**Drake Chernov**

Seventeen

The Outcast

**Jayson Meyer**

Seventeen

The Cook

**Dayna Hooper**

Sixteen

The Rebel

**Jackie Baeker**

Sixteen

The Quiet One

**Gid Freeman**

Seventeen

The Computer Whiz

**Danny Knoll**

Sixteen

The Know-It-All

**Jordan Compaq**

Seventeen

The Competitor

**Jessica Bastian**

Seventeen

The Girlfriend

**Benjamin Cobbler**

Eighteen

The Bully

**Carol Knoll**

Eighteen

The Heiress

**Chris Haggie**

Fifty

The Groundsman

**BJ Reynolds**

Sixteen

The Convict


	2. Introduction

Highnam High

Chapter One

"Alright guys," Mr Prime, the school principal said. "Our week sleepover in the school with no outside communication starts now."

Most of the students, including student body reporter James Lemche and best friend Justine Evans, expected more from the principal. Thirty-odd students were a lot to handle! But no. Graham Prime, who was always uptight about homework and getting straight A's, was relaxing.

"You have free run of the grounds. Mr Coulter," the students looked at the PE teacher that waved energetically at them. "Will be stationed at the PE office and has promised to allow students to borrow equipment from the sport shed."

"What about the computer rooms?" asked Gid Freeman, who could dissect a computer, and then build a newer, better one with fewer parts.

"Yes, some of them are being opened during the day," the Principal agreed and then nodded. "You may all go and do you own thing now."

The students broke apart into groups and started to choose which parts of the school they would 'own' for the entire week. James just looked at Justine, who smiled and pointed the camera at him and took a photo.

"Yeah, um, thanks for that," James said tucking a pen behind his ear. But she paid no attention, her eyes stuck to the short, slim, brown haired boy, Lachlan as he walked over the oval towards the music room with friend Sam and girlfriend Aleisha in tow. When Justine noticed the girlfriend, she started giving her daggers, but took a photo of the three walking away anyway.

"We gotta record this _whole_ week," James said. "Let's go interview a couple of people about their plans for a week without their phones or the internet."

"Psycho teen starts murderous rampage over lack of Facebook," a voice, grim but humorous. James recognised the voice and turned around slowly and hugged the man behind him.

"Daniel! You came! How did you get in?" he asked.

"Sneaked in before they locked the gates," he said removing the one arm he had around James.

"Um, hey Daniel," Justine waved with a smile. "Um, lovely to see you here, but um, I don't think the principal will be happy to see you here."

"Students were allowed to bring a 'parent' or family member with them. I could pass as your brother, Justine," he smiled.

"Right," James said. "Well us two are going around interviewing the stay-over's. You wanna be our first victim?"

"Oh hells yeah!" Daniel replied and sat himself down on the grass.

"Okay then," James said taking out a pad from his shoulder-bag and took out the pen from his ear and Justine got her camera ready. "Tell us who you are then."

"I'm Daniel Price," Daniel did a little bow and winked at Justine as she took a photo. "Wouldn't this be better with a cam-corder?"

"It's all we have," James said. "So we work with it. But do go on."

"Erm, I'm twenty-three. I work for a gas plant. I lost my license a few weeks ago."

"And how did you do that?" Justine asked.

"I'm a speed junkie!" he said grinning largely.

"Nice," James said and put his pad away. "Eh, I can't be bothered doing this. Let's go check the grounds out, hey?"

"Sure," Justine said smiling, but still having her camera ready.

Lachlan started bounding around the building, imitating an ape. He leaped over to Aleisha and started grooming her before turning her around and kissing her on the nose.

"Hey Snot-Face!" he smiled enthusiastically and threw the imaginary fleas at Sam. "Take that, and that! Kill my pretties, kill!"

Laura Betteridge, the school substitute, stood drinking her cup of coffee with the principal, Jill Priess the librarian and Trish Jones, a parent that looked rather bored. Laura was rather excited to be at this week long camp-in. She was the one that started calling it a camp-in because she believed that camping-out didn't mean being a jail-like place for a week, but she was sure that she'd enjoy herself. What could go wrong at a school?

Eilish sat at a tree she was very fond of and she started to read a book she'd been quite excited about reading for a few weeks. She pulled a bag of jelly beans out of her bag and started pulling them out one-by-one and eating them. Anne was the new kid at Highnam High school; she hadn't made many new friends since arriving. Anne came walking past and noticed Eilish

"Hello," she said. "Mind if I sit down?"

"Sure," Eilish said with a large grin on her face. She pushed the bag towards the other girl.

"My camera is so much better," Stefanie shouted nastily at Justine as she snapped a shot of the twins, Adam and Gary Andrews setting off a fire-cracker together.

"Well if that's true," Justine said taking a photo of the girl. "Then why didn't you bring your camera and do the job yourself?"

"I'm not going to risk it getting stolen," Stefanie said taking hold of the camera and going through the shots. "Very mediocre and boring," she said after thrusting it back at Justine. "Bring it too me when you get some good shots!"

"Ugh that wannabe pisses me off," Justine yelled at no one.

James walked past Richard, Russell and Luke trying to get Henry the exchange student to smoke a bong.

"Oi, Lemche," Teaghan, the school gossipiest walked up to James. James didn't necessarily like the girl, but when he needed gossip for the students newsletter. "I got some gossip for you."

"Hit me, Jones."

"Mr Bryce, the school pastor, was caught flirting with Ms Davis!"

"No kidding," James replied but he just shook his head. He was hoping for something good, but no. It was just crap.

Jackie and Ryan walked away through the main building, but Ryan's glasses flew off when Dylan accidentally bumped into him.

"Hey, sorry dude," Dylan said with a red football in his hand. He and Jordan had been kicking the football together whilst their girlfriend's Jessica and Jade sat back watching.

"It's, uh, fine," Ryan said walking away. Jackie just blushed, uncomfortable at attention being paid to them.

Kimberly pushed Elaine away when the girl considered a slut started pushing herself on Kimberly's boyfriend, Matthew.

"You stupid cow, keep away from him. I'm fair sure he doesn't want syphilis," Kim said and Elaine snarled at her. Matthew just rolled his eyes and started randomly strumming at the strings on his guitar.

Drake wondered into the school kitchen where a girl he knew by Dayna sat at a table eating a slice of buttered toast. He nodded at her and walked into the kitchen where Jayson was cooking up some sort of concoction.

"Drake," Jayson nodded and went back to cooking.

"Hello," Drake muttered, grabbed a can of soft drink from the fridge and walked back out into the grounds.

"Stop being such a know-all all the God damn time, Knoll," Ben said pushing Danny into BJ, who pushed him again.

"Leave him 'lone!" Chris, the school groundsman roared and the two boys ran off. "You okay, kid?"

"I'm fine," Danny said and walked away, too prideful to accept help from someone unimportant, just like his sister Carol.

"How are things going with you, James?" Daniel asked as James started touching up his profiling on the Stay-Over's.

"Things are okay," he smiled assuredly. "Just wondering if this week will be fun."

"Oh, I'm sure this week will be fun enough," Lachlan said laughing as he, Aleisha and Sam walked past.

"What makes you say that, Mayall?" James yelled out and the boy stopped, turned around and smiled at James.

"A whole week with full access to the school?" he asked rhetorically as Justine took a photo of the three. "Oh, hey Justine!"

James didn't have to be psychic to know the four words that went through Justine's mind at that.

_He knows my name!!!!!!!_

"Have fun, guys," he said walking away.

"I really hate that girlfriend of his," Justine said glaring at a photo.


	3. Swish

_Swish!_

Justine looked out into the oval towards the large tree with huge, protruding roots where people often sat during their lunch and recess breaks when school was on. The light was shining on the tree making it look like it was on fire. She walked at a slight and patient pace towards the tree and lay herself on the ground as she took the photo.

"What are you doing?" a voice came from behind her, reminding her of Daniel. In fact, she would have thought it was him, had she not been able to recognise the voice. She rolled over, grass and dirt covering the front of her shirt, and found Dylan standing over her wearing a sleeveless singlet with sweat dripping off of him from a game of touch-football with Jordan.

"Just taking, uh, photos for the school. I got asked to photograph this week, I gotta make it a week no one will ever forget."

"I'm sure it'll be that no matter if you take photos or not," Dylan said winking. "What've you got photos of so far?"

Justine cleared her throat, feeling uncomfortable. Her and Dylan had never really shared any conversation together before.

"Just people, really. Um, is it okay if I get a photo of you and Jordan playing?"

"Sure," Dylan said grinning and running, again, after the ball. Justine took the photo just as Dylan's foot caught the ball sending it through the air.

"Anne," Eilish said in a whining, but energetic, happy voice. "Let's go exploring!"

"Uh-huh, haven't you seen the school already?" Anne said uncomfortably. Eilish had been the only one to pay attention to her so far, but Anne appreciated the company.

"Sure I have, but you haven't! I gotta show you around! C'mon, it'll be fun," she said dragging Anne by the hand towards the main building. "C'mon, this way!"

"But Mr Prime gave me the tour when I first got here," Anne objected. She'd been at the school now for nearly six months. The whole 'New Kid' thing was getting old and tiresome, but it was funny how Eilish was doing it. Anne definitely saw her as friend status.

"Gary!" Adam roared to his twin challengingly from across the weights room. "Second one to fifty push-ups has to run the oval!"

"You're on! But you also have to do ten bench presses with fifty kilo!" Gary added, hoping that he would be the succeeder in this challenge. The twins were twins in every way, only subtly were they different in looks. People had to really know one well before being able to tell them apart. They were both gym junkies and pyromaniacs. They loved to challenge each other to prove whose better. Most of the time they tied.

"We need a judge," Adam nodded, attempting to look smart.

"Definitely, but who?" Gary said looking outside spotting their PE teacher Josh Coulter.

"Oi, Coulter! Come judge us!" Gary roared and soon the boys were doing the agreed push-ups in front of Josh who counted each accurately.

"So, who won?" Adam asked at the end of it.

"Yeah, come on, tell us!" Gary pushed.

"Well boys, I'm going to have to say Gary did." Josh laughed at Adam's face as he took off out of the room and onto the oval.

"So, Ms Betteridge, how has Highnam high school been treating you in the short amount of time you've been subbing for us?" James asked the young, black haired teacher.

"Quite well, thank you."

"Surely you could have gotten a permanent job as a teacher somewhere else?"

"Yeah, I could have," Laura replied with a smile in the corner of her mouth. "But this place is closer to home, and they promised if I could sub here for six months that they'd offer me a permanent job here as an English teacher."

"And is that what you want to teach?" he asked her.

"Oh definitely."

"Were you asked to spend this fabulous week with us, or did you volunteer?" James asked as Justine finally got to the teacher and student.

"Sorry I'm late!" she said. "Got caught up taking photos and talking to Dylan Law who needed help setting something up in the music room. Something to do with Talent night tomorrow."

"No worries," James said and repeated his question to Laura as he heard the slight beep of her camera working.

"Well, I've always had a love for camping and camp-outs … even though I would call this more of a camp-in. Don't you feel like you're in a prison or something?"

"Not yet," James said smiling. "But you didn't answer my question. Did you volunteer or were you asked?"

"I volunteered," Laura said sighing. "It was either me, or Ms Platts."

"Well, in that case I'm definitely glad you volunteered," James said grinning.

"I second that!"

"Hey Elaine," Helen said, stopping her practising on the piano. "What're you up to?"

"Nothing much, just heard you playing. Not too shabby."

Helen felt her cheeks flush at this and let out her girly-giggle. She didn't consider herself great, but it was nice when people complimented her playing.

"I was just about to leave and go get a coffee from the kitchen, want to join me?" Helen offered. She didn't care about Elaine's promiscuity, she considered her a nice enough girl.

"No thanks, Helen," Elaine said smiling. "I was just about to go see Matthew."

"I thought Kim told you to stay away from him?" Helen said in an attempted warning and assertive voice.

"Since when do _I_ listen to what other people say?" Elaine said walking out of the music room through the back door and was followed by Helen a few moments later. Helen wondered why Elaine had taken the back door, but passed it off as the same reason Helen used it – it was closer to the piano.

"Ugh, Sam is such a twat," Aleisha moaned as the other boy went off to the toilet. She turned to Lachlan and licked his cheek.

"He _is_ my friend," Lachlan pressed and wiped his cheer with his woollen, fingerless gloves.

"I suppose," Aleisha whispered and rolled her eyes. "Oh, hey Sam!" she smiled cheerfully as he came back.

"Hey, Leish," Sam said and hi-five'd Lachlan. "Hey, Locky! Want to go to the multimedia lab and watch a movie?"

"Drop Dead Fred?" Lachlan said excitedly! It was by far his most favourite movie! Immediately he whipped out his phone and called Justine informing her of the movie knowing that it, too was her favourite movie.

"_I'll be there in five!"_ Justine yelled in his ear.

Matthew had managed to finally get away from both Kimberley and Elaine. He felt restricted from doing as he pleased in his care-free life when Kim was around, and he didn't feel comfortable at being clawed at and smothered by Elaine. He pulled his sunglasses out of the collar in his shirt and slipped them over his ears as he walked, in a rather fast pace, towards the music room where he knew his guitar was screaming to be played.

"Hey Matt!" Luke said waving to the boy he sometimes hung around with at school, when Kimberley either wasn't at school or was fighting with Matt.

"Hey Luke, just going to the music room. Talk to you later?" he said waving back and nodding at the boy's portable gaming console in his hand.

"Yeah sure! Catch ya! Be good!"

"No worries, see you later," Matt said walking off. He approached the music room door and turned the handle and pushed the door open. He heard a slight snap and looked up at the noise and saw a rope just hanging by the door frame. He frowned at it and heard a second noise. A swish of wind as something flew through the air and then it felt like all the wind had been knocked out of him, but his body did not double over and collapse on the ground like he suspected it should. Instead he looked down and saw the neck of a guitar impaled into where his diaphragm would be. Matthew coughed up blood and collapsed on to the ground and onto the guitar neck, pushing it further through his body and snapping it off inside of him.

"Kim," he wheezed and felt himself fade into blackness.

The school siren sounded, which shocked all of the 'campers' but they soon realised, by warning of their growling stomachs, that dinner must be ready!

"Had a good first day?" James asked Justine at the table in the library where their food sat. It seemed odd eating in the library where food and drink was _never_ allowed. It seemed many students were sceptical about this, but their hunger soon outnumbered their curiosity as they started eating.

"Sure have," she said taking a forkful of spaghetti into her mouth. Her eyes narrowed into a death glare and James followed her line of sight as Stefanie came up and sat next to him. Luckily he would be spared of conversation with her as Daniel came and sat at the other side of her.

"Welcome," Mr Prime's loud, English voice called out over the crowd from the desk. "I trust everyone has enjoyed their first day?"

There was a murmur of agreement in the students.

"Splendid! Day one was a success then," Mr Prime said grinning.

"It's not over yet though!" called out Richard.

"Very true, very true," Mr Prime called out. "In the gym there will be a series of movies running until two in the morning. If you choose not to attend the movie-marathon I must ask that you do not wonder the school.

"What you wanna do, you two?" Daniel asked

"I might just go hit the sack," James smiled and Justine nodded at the two.

"Well _I'm_ going to go watch the movies and be civil," Stefanie said standing up and walking away from their table.

"You do that Stef," Justine nodded.

Stefanie stormed out of the library furious that they refused to pay her attention! She wanted to be so like Justine. She walked out towards the second stair case, closest to the library, also the less-used one. As she walked down she felt something behind her, but wasn't sure what so she just ignored it. When she reached half way down she was pushed in the back and went tumbling down. Her neck caught on one of stairs and snapped. Her body crumpled at the bottom of the stairs.


	4. Crack

_Crack!_

"Hey, Jackie," Ryan quietly yelled. A normal person would not find this possible, but Ryan was such a quiet and shy boy that when he yelled, he didn't do it with heart and it was a weak yell.

"Hey Ryan," Jackie whispered and kept walking off towards the English room that she'd set her sleeping bag in.

"Are … are you okay? You look a little pale," Ryan said looking down at Jackie through his glasses which kept slipping down his nose. Jackie smiled up at him and pushed his glasses back for him.

"I'm fine, Ryan," she promised. "Just very tired!"

"Well, um, if you liked, I could, uh, come keep you company tonight," Ryan said with his cheeks flushing bright red.

"Oh, um, sure," Jackie said blushing an equal shade of burgundy.

"Can this movie get anymore boring and predictable?" Russell asked as he sat through _Jumanji_ with Richard and Luke.

"No idea mate," Richard said coughing loudly after taking a hit on his bong. "'Ere, have some of this," he said during coughs passing the bong to Russell.

"Finally some entertainment!" Russell said with a wide grin before pressing his lips on top of the pipe and lighting up the weed.

"Can I get a hit of that?" Dayna asked pulling up a plastic chair near the boys.

"After me you can," Luke said smiling and hi-fiving the girl.

"I swear I must have seen this movie a million times," Lachlan complained as he laid back on his sleeping bag with Aleisha asleep with her head on his chest. Sam sat next to Lachlan watching the movie.

"I totally agree, mate. Put on something good, or at least half funny!"

"Ah well, hopefully they'll put on something better next," Lachlan said hopefully. He noticed other people getting bored and leaving the gym.

"So tell me what your job in this school _is_ exactly?" Rachel asked Cole with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm the school pastor, offering guidance towards students. I counsel them too," Cole Bryce countered.

"So, you preach and push your beliefs on to them whether they like it or not?"

"No, not at all. I just hold Bible Studies during lunch times and after school to those that wish to attend."

"But it is a public school," Rachel complained.

"Yes, in a highly disadvantaged area. They need guidance towards accepting Christ."

"You need guidance to accepting a crucifix up your ass," Rachel whispered, leaning against the wall to watch the projected movie.

"God, I have never seen anything so stupid," Ben complained to BJ.

"I know, right?"

"Wanna go up and pinch some of Dick Wood's weed?" Ben snorted and BJ nodded. They walked over to the four other teens.

"Hello boys, and Richard," Ben laughed. "Mind if we have some?" he leaned over and grabbed the bong and lighter, taking a hit and passing it to BJ.

"Tsk, this is crap," BJ said thrusting the bong back at Richard. "See ya later Dick Wood."

"Idiots," Richard slurred and stood up way too fast and passed out. Ben and BJ just laughed and walked away.

"Passed out on grass, how pathetic."

"She's such a backstabber," Sam whispered, nodding to Aleisha. "The things she says behind her so-called friend's backs."

"Yeah," Lachlan sighed and looked away from both of them. "I know."

"Not to mention the things I've heard she says about me."

Lachlan felt a pang of guilt when Sam said that, knowing fully well what Aleisha said about his best friend.

"And the things she's said about you!" Sam accused.

"Fair go, mate!" Lachlan snapped.

"I'm serious, Lachlan. She abuses you quite a bit behind your back!"

"Shut up, Sam!"

"No, Locky! She's almost as much of a bitch as Kimberley!"

"I don't care! She's my girlfriend, not yours. If I wanted your opinion I'd ask," Lachlan hissed and felt Aleisha stir.

"What's going on?" she mumbled.

"Nothing, Sam was just leaving," Lachlan said glaring at the other boy.

"Um, yeah, uh, headache," he said and stood up and left the gym.

"Hey, Locky?" Aleisha whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I think I'm going to leave, too. You coming?"

"Nah, I'll stay for a few movies."

Sam was fuming as he walked away! His best friend was choosing some fourteen year old that he was sleeping with over Sam! Sam, who had been Lachlan's best friend since first year of high school over a chick he'd only met six months ago.

It just wasn't right, damn it!

Sam sighed and decided to go for a bit of a run before turning in. Running had always helped clear his mind when he was feeling stressed.

As soon as his legs were moving, nothing mattered, not the soft wind that turned harsh as he pushed himself against it, nor the near-pitch blackness around him. He ran around the main building, staying outdoors and he ran over the front lawn before colliding into something cold and hard, but at the same time soft. He didn't know what, and he didn't get the chance to find out as something hard and metallic hit him full force over the top of his head. He heard his skull crack and he tried to scream out loud, but nothing happened as whatever it was continued to hit him over the top of his head.

"Hey, James?" Justine whispered out, trying not to wake the sleeping Daniel.

"Yeah, Jus?"

"Tomorrow, can we go to the multimedia room so I can print off some of these photos?" she asked softly. She would have done it alone, but it was always nice when James was there complimenting her photos. It also made his job easier when he wrote his report on the subject she photographed and he was writing about.

"Sure, no worries," he promised and climbed in to his sleeping bag in between Daniel and Justine and let sleep take him over.

Justine could not sleep. Something about a photo bugged her. A dark shadow walking across the front oval carrying something else quite large was right in the middle of a photo she'd taken of the front of the school only ten minutes earlier.


	5. Bang

_Bang!_

"Has anyone seen Matt?" Kim asked the following morning at breakfast. She hadn't been able to find him and she was rather worried. She had her phone stashed away in her luggage, but she didn't want to be busted over something so small.

"What's up, Kim?" Luke asked from a table not too far from where she was asking Elaine if she had seen Matt this morning.

"Matt's gone missing," Kim said quietly and stubbornly. She purposefully showed her distaste and dislike for Luke.

"Oh, I'm sure he's just hanging around with his guitar at his side somewhere," Elaine grinned.

"But he wasn't in the music room, and his guitar was there, too."

"Don't worry about it, Kim," Luke said getting annoyed at the whining in her voice. "He'll turn up eventually."

"Are you having fun, love?" Trish asked her daughter at breakfast. "It's quite a large school you know. Surely there are heaps to see."

"It's okay, I guess," Teaghan replied and took part of a pancake in her mouth. "A little boring, but I'll live."

"Surely there's some action around this place somewhere you can join in?"

"I'm sure there is," Teaghan muttered, shielding her face from her mother with her long, golden blonde hair.

"How odd," Helen whispered as her eyes run over the large crowd.

"What's odd?" Elaine asked her friend as she, too, looked over the crowd.

"Lachlan's sitting with Aleisha, without Sam. Stefanie is no where to be seen and Kim can't find Matt. People just seem to be … vanishing."

"Don't worry Helen," Elaine said reassuringly. "We'll find them."

"What are you thinking about?" Jordan asked Dylan, who was staring off into space. The boy jerked suddenly and just smiled. Jordan raised an eyebrow and poked his girlfriend, Jessica, in the side.

"Dylan is off in la-la land," he stage-whispered to her.

"Probably thinking about some girl," she giggled.

"James, Justine," Mr Prime called out panting as he jogged over to the two teens leaving breakfast. "Great to catch up with you! How's the report coming along?"

"Sir," James started. "We haven't even been here twenty-four hours. Justine has gotten a few photos, and I've written a few things. We're just going to the multimedia room to get a few photos printed off. Uh, is that okay sir?"

"Absolutely, absolutely," Mr Prime said excitedly. The teens had never seen the man so excited before.

"Oh, you're so immature," Carol whined as Ben pushed her brother over as he walked towards the sports shed. "Can't you just leave him alone for five minutes?"

"Uh, no actually," Ben said smiling. "I can't." He walked off leaving Carol and Danny furious.

"What is with that guy? He annoys me _so_ much!"

"Leave it alone, Carol. I can look after myself."

"Fine, sorry for helping. Don't expect it again, okay?"

Jade walked off to the tech studies room where she had hidden her phone before the end of term. She knew she wouldn't be able to go without her phone for too long and she just had to call someone!

Jade felt mighty alone and bored in the school, and she didn't want to put up with it anymore.

"Hey, Jade!" someone called out and Jade jumped. She thought she'd been busted, but she kept her cool and turned around to see Kimberley running up to meet her.

"What do you want?" Jade snapped.

"I was wondering if you'd seen Matt?" the other girl asked feeling her temper rise and a want to just slap Jade.

"Nope, haven't. Run along now."

"And people call me the bitch," Kim muttered as she walked away.

Drake ran his fingers through his hair as he marched over to the sports shed and pulled out a basketball. He hadn't joined the team at the school, but he knew he could if he wanted.

Well, he did want to, but the other students didn't like him very much so he just stuck to himself and didn't let the world bother him. A single tear slipped down his cheek, but he rubbed it off and started shooting hoops with the ball.

"Wow, not too bad," Dylan whistled as Drake made a difficult shot. "Not too bad at all. Ever played on a team?"

"No," Drake mumbled and held the ball at his side shyly. "Just with my brothers."

"Well your brothers must have taught you really well. You play like a pro! Up for a game of one-on-one?"

"Sure," Drake mumbled again.

"James, can you come check this out?" Justine called him over and pointed at a blown up image on the screen.

"What's that?" he asked. It looked like a rather small person dragging another passed out, but much larger person.

"That's Sam," Justine said pointed at the one being dragged. "He looks like he drunk too much and passed out."

"That sounds like Sam," James said knowing fully well that Sam, though not an alcoholic had a liking for the stuff.

"Yeah, it does. But who is that dragging him?"

"I got no idea, Lachlan maybe?"

"I don't think so, or Aleisha would be with them, wouldn't she?" James noticed the evident distaste in her voice.

"Hello?" Jade called out when she stepped into the room to see if anyone else was in the room. She noticed three sleeping bags sprawled out in the room, but she couldn't tell whose they belonged to, and to be perfectly honest, she didn't care. There was no answer to her shout-out and she felt relief swarm through her.

She walked over to the acetylene welder and leaned over to pick her phone up from a groove in the metal. As she stood up and turned around she tripped on a long piece of rope and fell forward onto the nail gun. She grunted as she felt the nails shoot through her body and eventually passed out and died where she lay.

"Hey, Justine?" Lachlan called out as she and James passed him to go back to their room to wake Daniel.

"Yeah, Lachlan?" she asked and then looked at James. "I'll catch up to later, yeah?"

"Sure, see you later."

"What's going on?" Lachlan asked with a smile.

"Nothing much, just, uh, taking photos," Justine said lifting her camera and taking a photo of Lachlan.

"Sweet. Um, what are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing, just going to the talent night, you?"

"Same. Uh, you want to come with me?"

"Sure, I'm up for that," Justine said grinning.


	6. Ecstasy

_Ecstasy! _

"So what's America like?" Elaine asked Henry who was eating a sandwich. Richard had succeeded in getting him to take a hit from the bong and he was feeling hungry.

"Patriotic," he mumbled with his mouth full.

"Sounds like fun," Elaine said inching closer to the boy.

"What are you doing inside on a lovely day like this?" Jill asked Helen as the girl was sifting through many books in the library.

"I want to find a book with some of Mozart's work," Helen said and kept looking.

"Well you're looking in the wrong place, the Mozart books are over there," Jill said pointing towards the smallest aisle in the library. "Plenty of his work over there."

"Thank you," Helen said and walked over to the indicated aisle.

"Alright boys," Mr Coulter said loudly as he walked between the two groups of boys ready to throw the ball in Coulter's hands at each other. "I want a clean game, okay? Ah, who am I kidding? Go nuts!" he said throwing the ball high into the air and laughed as the boys launched themselves at the ball.

"I'm so bored!" Teaghan whined as she sat on the cold pavement.

"Then why did you come on this trip then?" a voice said behind her. She looked up and saw a man she had seen with Justine and James, but she had no idea who he actually was.

"Who the _hell_ are you?" Teaghan asked accusingly, and bluntly.

"I'm Daniel. Justine's older brother," he lied, but neither she nor anyone else in the school needed know that.

"Right," Teaghan said slowly. She wasn't sure if she believed him for not. The only thing she was sure of is that it would make good gossip.

"For the last time, Kim," Gid moaned. "No, I haven't seen Matt since yesterday!" and it was true. Gid, nor anyone for that matter, had seen Matt in twenty-four hours.

"Fine then," Kim spat and stormed off. Gid rolled his eyes and went back to his computer. Why would he care where some guy that he never shared more than ten words would was? It's not like he escaped. The school was now more like a prison that it ever was.

Jordan was running laps around the school oval. He needed to get better, faster and stronger than Dylan! Ever since they were six, when the boys met they had been ostentatiously competitive with each other.

He had to push himself further!

"Jordan!" Jessica called out from the gym. "Come on! Lunch time!"

"No," he yelled back without stopping. He had to keep going!

"So what is exactly planned for tonight?" Trish asked Laura as they both carried a blue, plastic chair each into rows in the gym.

"Well, Graham wants to hold a talent night tonight," Laura announced as she placed a chair down. She flinched as a bright flashed momentarily blinded her. She looked over and saw Justine pointing a camera at her.

"Oh, sorry Ms Betteridge," Justine apologized. "Just thought it would be a good idea for me to get a couple of photos of the set-up."

"Where are you going?" Russell asked Richard as the other boy stumbled out of the room and walked out. Both boys were both already smoking weed and were pretty out of it.

"Someone said they could get me a few Ecstasy pills for free!"

"Who said that?" Russell said excitedly.

"Can't remember. They were all funny looking!" Richard grinned and started laughing as Russell passed out.

Richard walked over behind the art building and was waiting for the person who he could barely remember. He started pacing around in circles until he felt an arm slip around his neck and then something sharp jab into his neck. He felt a burning pressure fill his head and throat and collapsed to the ground when the arm let go of him. He started convulsing and felt the Ecstasy tablets that had been crushed and mixed with water and injected into him rip and burn through his body.

Within ninety seconds, Richard was dead.

"Why are you so enthusiastic about sticking around with me?" Anne asked Eilish curiously. She really could not understand it, but she would not complain. It was nice.

"Because I don't like to see people alone, it's not cool. Everyone needs friends!" Eilish said excitedly.

"Fair enough. Well … what do you want to do then?"

"I have no idea. Want to go up to the library?" Eilish offered.

"Sure, sounds like fun!" Anne said and allowed Eilish to lead the way.

"Hey Justine," Dylan called out as he jogged over to the table where Justine sat looking through photos on her Nikon camera.

"Hey Dylan," Justine smiled as she searched through the photos.

"What's going on?" he asked, jumping up onto the table and looking over the camera at the photos. "Oh, I like that one!" he pointed towards the photo of the front lawn. "What's that dark shape down there though?"

"I haven't been able to work that out," Justine said scratching at her head. "By the looks of it, it is Sam pissed off of his face and someone dragging him off of the oval."

"Yeah, but we were all searched before we got here. No booze allowed," Dylan noted and Justine nodded, knowing that it was true.

"On that note," Justine whispered. "Has anyone seen Sam for a few days?"

"Nope, it seems like he's just disappeared."

"Just like Matt."

"And Jade, and Stefanie."

"Odd," Justine whispered and looked at the photo.

"Hey, Adam, I'm going to head off," Gary yelled out and then hi-fived his twin. "I'm going to go grab something to eat and then shower. Might go check this talent night out tonight!"

"Alright, cool," Adam said and moved from the bench press machine to another machine. Gary had left with a wave and run off.

"Gah," Adam complained as he looked at the machine. It was out of order, so he moved on to the next one and pushed the weights down with a high-level of resistance. It seemed odd to him, because it didn't seem as smooth as the weights came forward. He heard a loud bang and then the weights came crushing down and crushed Adam's head.


	7. Snap

_Snap!_

"And what are you going to do tonight?" Josh asked Justine in the interview. To his left was Graham, and to his right was Rachel.

"I'm going to have a photo-like film of the past two days going," Justine said holding up her camera.

"Oh, that sounds exciting!" Rachel said enthusiastically, but Graham did not look impressed. Justine noted that this was more like him, unlike his happy-go-lucky attitude yesterday.

"Thank you, Ms Davis," Justine smiled and stood up to leave just as Teaghan sat down.

"And what are you going to do tonight?" Josh repeated in a bored tone.

"Singing," Teaghan announced with a proud, confident grin.

"And exactly why are you here?" Laura asked Daniel suspiciously. She remembered clearly on Justine's form that she hadn't nominated any family members to accompany her on this trip.

"It was last minute," Daniel said, grinning charmingly. "I got time off of work for two weeks, so I said that if it was okay I'd tag along."

"You should have rung up or written a letter," Laura urged, but she didn't mind.

"Yeah, I know, but like I said – it was last minute."

"Have you seen Sam?" Lachlan asked Aleisha, but she shook her head.

"Nope, haven't seen him since last night at the movie marathon when I went to bed," she replied. "Apparently a couple of people have just … vanished."

"Like who?"

"Well, Matt Turner, Sam Dale, and Jade Torino."

"Yeah, and Stefanie Jacobs," Lachlan added. "Apparently Justine has a photo of Sam drunk and passed out last night."

"Yeah, I heard about that," Aleisha said and quickly changed the subject. "Are you going to the talent night tonight?"

"Uh, um, I said I'd go with Justine."

"Why are you going with that cow?" Aleisha snarled.

"Because she's my friend."

"James!" Helen yelled out excitedly walking over and taking the boy into a tight hug. James smiled and put one arm around the expert pianist.

"Hello, Helen," he greeted. "How are you?"

"I'm good," she said and paused. "And you?"

"I'm fine, just a bit tired. The school isn't the most comfortable place to sleep," James joked and stretched his arms out exaggeratedly.

"I agree," Helen said and raised an eyebrow. "Where are you sleeping?"

"Room two. It's got a fair amount space, plus it has computers. What about you?"

"I'm just camping out in the art room."

"Isn't tonight going to be exciting?" Eilish yelped enthusiastically to Jayson and Anne. Jayson was in the kitchen preparing the snacks for the talent night.

"I don't get to see much of it," Jayson complained but kept stirring the ingredients in a bowl for a cake.

"Why not?" Anne asked curiously and Jayson looked at her in surprise. It was the first thing he'd ever heard her ask.

"Um, because I'll be in here cooking," he smiled.

"Oh, right. That makes sense, I guess."

"Matt?" Kim yelled out in the tech studies room. It was the only place she had yet to check. Kim could not see Matt actually being there, as he never had the most interest in wood and metal work, but it was her last chance.

"Matt," she yelled out again. "Are you in here? You better be or I'll kick your arse!"

Still no answer.

"God damn it, Matthew James Turner, where are you?" she yelled and turned around a corner and froze. She found Matt, but he wasn't alive. Matthew was pinned up against the wall, with a large piece of wood through his torso.

"Oh, God," Kim muttered, letting tears spill down her face. She didn't move as she felt the rope wrap around her neck and suddenly jerk her upwards, snapping her neck. The killer walked away with a grimace on their face. They had almost been found out. They would have to be more careful in placing the bodies.

"Oh, geez," Gary groaned as he saw the broken weights machine. He had come back after his lunch and shower to grab Adam to head over to the performing arts centre, but he wasn't here. Maybe he'd been hurt by the broken machine and had to go to the first aid room where Coulter volunteered to stay to help out if anyone got sick or injured.

If Adam had been hurt, the whole school would know about it, because he'd be bragging about his brand new scar. Gary chuckled and walked out the room heading towards the main building.

"Okay," Graham announced. "We'll start the talent night at seven, so in half an hour I want all the students in this hall. Okay?"

"Got it," Laura nodded, and there was a murmur of agreement by the other adults and staff, including Daniel.

"May I be on the judging panel?" Daniel asked putting his hand up.

"As long as you don't show leniency towards your sister," Graham warned.

"I won't," Daniel promised.

"Then you may."

"Hey, Coulter!" Gary greeted and shook the man's hand. "You seen my twin?"

"No, I haven't. Why?"

"Because one of the machines in the weights room has broken and I'm worried he may have gotten hurt."

"Well, he'll be fine, I'm sure. If he had gotten hurt he would have come here, but then again knowing Adam, he'd be out showing everyone the wound. Maybe you should ask around?"

"I don't think so," Gary said. "I don't want to seem like Kimberley."

"Welcome, everyone," Graham announced to all of the students in the gym. "I hope everyone has been enjoying their time here in the school. In a moment I would like to welcome Justine Evans down to the stage to start up her photo-diary of the past two days, but first I would like to indicate that Matthew Turner, Sam Dale, Jade Torino, Richard Woods, Adam Andrews, and Stefanie Jacobs have seemed to have disappeared. But of course, since Mr Coulter is the only one with keys out of the school, there is no way they could have left. If you find any of them, I plead that you bring them to me as I have questions that need to be answered. Thank you, and welcome to the 2009 Highnam High talent night. I would now like to hand you over to Justine Evans."

Mr Graham left the room and Justine walked slowly down the stairs, looking up at Dylan in the lighting and sound room. She nodded at him to start the photo-diary. She looked over at Lachlan who smiled and waved at her. She felt a wave of confidence and stood to the right of the screen where the photos were being projected, and being followed by the song _Getting Away With Murder_.

A photo popped up of Jordan, Jessica and Dylan by the staircase when Justine noticed something she had not noticed before. She gasped in shock and looked up at the sound room.

"Stop!" she yelled out loudly. And everyone looked at her in shock and confusion. Dylan paused the slideshow. Justine marched over to the screen and looked closely at the bottom of the stairs going to the basement.

Stefanie lay there, mauled, bent and broken.

A body that seemed to have no head though was still instantly recognisable as Adam.

Richard lay pale, and lifeless.

Justine knew there were others, and she knew who they were, but she could not see their faces.

"Oh, God," she muttered and turned to the crowd. "I know what happened to the missing people! They're dead! Murdered!"

The room seemed quiet as it was evident of the bodies in the bottom right hand corner of the current photo.

Graham was walking over to the front office and when it started to rain.

"Damn it," he cursed and kept walking until he noticed an open fuse-box. "Stupid thing." He walked over and went to shut up when he was pushed in the back into the fuse-box, where thousands of volts of electricity ripped through his body, electrocuting the principal and cutting the power off to the school.

Instant panic set in and everyone started running down the stairs trying to get out.

"Everyone calm the hell down!" Daniel roared over all the noise. "The power has gone out and there seems to be a murderer in the school. Unfortunately the principal was stupid enough to make it so that no one has mobile phones on them, so we can't call for help."

Everyone went quiet, except for the small sounds of sobbing coming from some of the girls, and even some of the boys.

"Oh, God, Lachlan," Justine whimpered as the boy ran up to her. She was worried about him as she hadn't been able to find him in the crowd. "What's happening?"

"I don't know," Lachlan admitted, wrapping an arm around Justine to protect and comfort her. She gasped and looked at him in the eye. She let herself go and suddenly they were pressed together in a small kiss. Lachlan pushed himself away and looked at Justine guiltily and accusingly before running off.

Jayson cursed as the power went out. He could not see a thing and he was stuck in the kitchen, a very dangerous place to be in the dark!

He couldn't here a thing, no screams or people running through the school, just a quiet, fear-filled silence.

Jayson turned towards the oven and leaned over it when there was a flash of light went past him. He stood up and turned around and was blinded by the torch being shown in his eyes.

"Who's there?" he said picking up the wrong end of a knife and cutting himself. He cursed and dropped the knife. He could not see who was holding the flashlight, but he felt it as the knife plunged into his stomach and was pushed into the oven. Jayson screamed in pain and fear as the blood seeped through his shirt and apron and the flames licked at his skin, whilst the heat boiled him. Jayson kept screaming until the flames on his clothes and skin burnt all the oxygen around him and he choked to death on the smoke of his own flesh and died.


	8. Thud

_Thud!_

"Oh, God," Jessica moaned to Jordan, tears streaming down her face. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," Jordan said as he kept running, holding her hand, pulling her along. He didn't want to admit he was afraid. Dylan wouldn't!

"We have to get out of here," Trish kept yelling at Teaghan, and her daughter agreed whole-heartedly, but they had no way to get out except Josh!

"Mum, we have to find Mr Coulter!"

"What? Why?"

"Weren't you listening? C'mon, we have to find everyone!"

"What do you want Teaghan?" James snarled at her. "In case you hadn't noticed, now _is not _the time for gossip!"

"How about just shutting up and listening to someone for once, James?" Teaghan snarled back, her eyes glaring and giving him daggers. "We have to find everyone! I know how we can get out of the school!"

"How?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, actually tell us something useful for once," Lachlan said sarcastically.

"The keys! Mr Coulter has them!"

"Surely someone must have snuck their phone in," Chris Haggie asked Laura. "They're students! They don't like being without their precious phones! And since we can't ring anyone using the land lines thanks to the power being out!"

"Why is the power out?" Rachel asked.

"Graham was electrocuted," Cole replied. "Pushed into the fuse-box … he's fried."

"Oh, God," Jill gasped, her hand shooting to her mouth in shock. Just then James, Justine, Teaghan, Trish and Daniel barged through the door.

"What are you doing here?" Cole said accusingly, for all he knew, one of them could be the killer.

"We found a way out!" Teaghan yelled excitedly, and the adults all shook their heads.

"There's no way out, only Mr Coulter has the keys," Laura whispered and then something clicked in her head. "Oh! That's the plan! We find Coulter and then get the keys from him!"

"Russell," Dayna yelled out as the boy ran past her carrying his bag.

"Can't stop, must find … Richard."

"Russell," Dayna yelled out chasing after him. "Don't you get it? Richard is dead!"

"Not possible," Russell announced stubbornly and kept running towards the main building looking for his friend. Dayna chased after him knowing from the photo that Richard was dead … she just hoped that Russell wouldn't do anything stupid, and she hoped that she would not be next.

"What's going on?" Ben asked BJ as they sat in their room. They had refused to go to the talent night and had wondered what had happened when the lights went out. They had become even more alarmed when they heard students screaming in fear.

"I have no idea," BJ said looking out the door seeing Jackie, Ryan, Drake and Danny running from the main building. "Come on, let's go."

Both the boys grabbed the flashlights from their bag that they had been instructed to bring to the trip. The boys ran from their room trying to find someone that still seemed sane. They came across James, Justine, some of the adults and Teaghan running towards the gym in a panic.

"What's going on?" Ben asked Trish as they kept running.

"There's a murderer in the school," Trish said.

"Piss off, you're kidding. Right?" BJ laughed nervously. The idea was ridiculous.

"No, I'm not. We're going to see Mr Coulter to get the keys from him so we can get out of here. We're also trying to find any students that had snuck their phones in somehow."

"Don't look at us," Ben said when all the eyes scanned them. "For once, we followed the rules!"

They ran with all of their energy towards the gym, unsure of what to say to Coulter when they got there. For all they knew, he may have already escaped himself and left them all to die. Or that he could be the killer. But what they saw when they got to the gym shocked them most of all. Joshua Coulter was impaled to the gym door by a javelin through the sternum.

"Oh, sweet Jesus," James cursed in shock. He took a fearful step forward and flinched when he touched the body. He had to search for the keys. He rummaged through the pockets in Josh's uniform but could find nothing.

"Are they there?" Teaghan asked in a panic.

"No … there's nothing in his pockets at all. Not even his wallet."

"I'm so sorry," Eilish whimpered to Anne as the other girl sat in shock by a tree. She didn't know what to do. Neither girl did! They'd never dealt with a serial killer among them before. Not many people have to go through it.

"What are you sorry for?" Anne asked slowly and quietly. Someone would think that she was fine and not affected by this, but those that knew people would know that she was in shock.

"This trip, I wanted to look after you, but I don't know if I can," Eilish admitted.

"I'll be fine, Eilish," Anne promised.

James, Daniel and Justine split up from the crowd and ran to the main building. They knew it was hopeless, but they had to see if there was a phone or something in the office that they could call out using.

"Wait up, you three!" Dylan called out running up to them just as they got to the entrance to the building. "Are you sure that there will be a working phone in there?"

"No," James admitted but shook his head. "But it's worth a try! I'm not going to sit here and allow more people to die without trying to save them first!"

"Okay," Dylan nodded, reassured by James' determination and they marched through the entrance and into the office.

"Daniel, you go check the admin staff offices, Justine, you check the back rooms, Dylan, you look after them, and I'll check these phones here."

"Got it," Justine said and Dylan walked off with Justine through to the staff's break room and Daniel hesitated.

"What?" James asked curiously and worriedly.

"I don't want to leave you by yourself," Daniel admitted. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'll be fine," James promised. "You go check the rooms. Get us out of here!"

"Okay," Daniel smiled weakly and marched off. James picked up one of the phones and brought it to his ear and pressed the zero key three times, but nothing came through and there was no dial tone. He walked angrily to the other phone and tried that one. Still nothing. He felt terrible for dragging Daniel to this. James was the one that asked Daniel to accompany Justine and him on this stupid trip that was now killing people.

"Anything?" Justine asked as she walked back alone, Dylan obviously checking on Daniel. James shook his head at Justine.

"Not even a dial tone."

"Me either," Justine said and sat down next to him. "I'm really worried."

"Me too," James agreed and run his fingers through his own hair.

"Nothing in those rooms," Daniel announced coming out with Dylan. "The phones are dead. We're stuck here."

"Come on, let's go," James said during a sigh and walked out of the office and started to walk out of the main building until he heard a thud and then an evident snap. "What was that?"

They all turned around and saw Laura Betteridge suspended from the stair case by a rope, dead. A piece of paper fell from her hand when her body stopped swinging and Daniel slowly walked over and picked it up. Dylan shown his flashlight on the piece of paper.

"What does it say?" Justine said.

"'_There is no escape_'," Dylan whispered and looked up. "Maybe the killer is still up there! Let's go!"

The four of them ran up the stair case trying to find anyone or anything, but there was no one except Helen, Gary, Luke and Henry running towards them.

"Have you guys seen anyone up here?" Daniel asked but the four others shook their heads.

"No, no one is up here besides us. We heard a girl screaming and came to check it out."

"Yeah, it was Ms Betteridge," James whispered. "She's dead."


	9. Gurgle

_Gurgle!_

"It's all my fault," Russell declared, tears streaming down his face as he sat on the staircase with a cigarette in between his fingers.

"How is it your fault?" Dayna snapped, tired from a sleepless night. "How is nearly a dozen people's deaths _your _fault?"

"Not all of them," Russell whispered. "Just Richard's. He said that there was someone he could get Ecstasy tablets off of, but he didn't say who. It was obviously the killer."

"I still fail to see how it's your fault he's dead."

"Because I should have stopped him! Or been there with him!"

"You know as well as I do, Russell, once Richard got an idea in his head, he doesn't change his mind. And if you were there with him, you'd be dead, too."

Henry sat in the staff room with a melted, green slushie in his hands. He hadn't drunken any of it yet, he was still in shock from the all the sudden revelations that people were being murdered. He came to Australia thinking it were safe, but he was wrong. He downed all of the slushie in one gulp, too fast to taste anything.

Suddenly his stomach burned and he felt vomit rising in his throat. He doubled over and let it flow, but it wasn't vomit. It was blood. He started heaving and kept vomiting until he fainted and choked on his own vomit.

"Oh, God, Henry!" Elaine yelped and ran over and checked his pulse, but felt nothing. Henry Kirks was dead.

"He's dead," Gary whispered, leaning against Rachel who had an arm around him. Rachel wanted to believe that she was having a nightmare, and that she would wake up any minute.

"Adam's dead, and I could have saved him," Gary started blaming himself. Rachel closed her eyes and tried to stop the tears falling down her cheeks.

"Don't blame yourself," she said quietly. "You can't blame yourself. We'll find a way out of this, I promise!"

"You're doing it wrong," Danny whined childishly to Gid, who was trying to fix the fuse-box and see if he could get it all reconnected.

"Shut up, Danny. I know what I'm doing!" Gid snapped and stuck the screw driver in and zapped himself. "Ouch! Crap!"

"You're doing it wrong," Danny repeated.

"Danny. If you do not shut up, I'll kill you before the killer gets a chance," Gid snarled and went back to work. "Just leave me alone. Go annoy someone else."

"I have to find Lachlan," Aleisha cried running from the maths-block with Drake following her.

"Are you sure he's alive?" Drake called out to her. "I mean … if one of us are a killer, anyone could be dead."

"Like him," Aleisha said stopping suddenly at the steps leading up to the main entrance. Drake followed her pointed finger to a body that lay against the door to the main office. Both of them ran up the stairs, Drake tripping slightly, and nearly smashed through the automatic doors that always seemed to move too slowly.

"Hey buddy, you alive?" Drake asked prodding at the body. The head slumped back revealing Luke Woolford with a long, neat gash along his throat. It seemed that blood had stopped flowing a while ago.

"Oh, God," Aleisha squealed. "It's Luke."

"Come on," Drake whispered, standing up slowly, dragging Aleisha up with him. "We have to go to the art room. That's where everyone else is."

"I … want to say that I'm sorry, for being such an asshole to everyone," Ben announced in the art room where Gary, Rachel, Russell, Elaine, Dayna, Jackie, Ryan, James, Dylan, Justine, BJ, Lachlan, Daniel, Jessica, Jordan, Trish, Teaghan, Chris, Carol, Anne and Eilish all either sat or stood.

"You pussy!" BJ yelled out and gave Ben the finger. "Just because some whack job has been butchering some of us, you've turned soft?"

"Yes, BJ, I have! I don't think we should keep being assholes when so much is at risk!"

"Screw you, Ben," BJ shouted and walked out. Ben shouted at him to stay, that it was too dangerous, but Lachlan held him back.

"Let him go," Lachlan said and slowly let go of Ben who just stood there.

"Hey, um, has anyone seen my brother, Danny?" Carol asked softly and looked around. Everyone shook their head except for Jackie who just stood there.

"I … saw him wonder over … to the main building with Gid Freeman," she whispered.

"And now, we're back," Danny said walking in with Gid.

"Where were you?" Carol said charging at Danny and grabbing him. Gid stood back nervously. He wasn't specifically close to anyone in the group and just hung back. "I was worried sick about you!"

"I was helping Gideon turn the power back on, but of course he has no idea how to do it, so I had to instruct him step-by-step, but it still wouldn't work."

Everyone just groaned in fear at the lack of power in the school for however long it took to get contact to the outside world.

"Hey! Where's Kimberley?" Elaine yelled out. "Kim kept on saying that she snuck her phone into the school."

"So did Jade," Jessica added. "But both of them are missing. Probably dead."

"Luke's dead, too," Aleisha said barging into the art room with Drake in tow.

"What?" was yelled by many of the remaining surviving students.

"How?" Russell asked, wide-eyed. Now, two of his friends were dead.

"His throat was slit, and he was just thrown against the wall in the office. Jayson is dead, too. Baked in the oven."

James sat down in shock, Justine nearly fainted and Daniel walked over and gripped both of their shoulders comfortingly. Just then Helen and Jill barged through the door.

"Don't tell us that someone else has been killed?" Cole snapped at them and they both froze.

"No, not that we know of," Helen whimpered and Jill started to weep.

"Well, everyone alive seems to be here, plus BJ being out there … so one of us is the killer," James declared. "We know that much. And I have no proof on which one of us it is, I mean the most likely of us was…"

"Adam," Gary whispered.

"Yeah," James agreed. "But evidently he's not, so I have no clue which of us it is, but right now our priority is finding either Kimberley's or Jade's phone and calling for outside help. Can we do that?"

"Yes," everyone agreed.

"Okay, everyone split up and search the school. Got it?"

Trish, Teaghan and Elaine walked through the school grounds armed with a pair of scissors each. They all knew that if they were attack it would do no good, but it was the best that they could find.

"We should check the middle school," Teaghan offered to the other two, who nodded and set off for the indicated area.

"What time is it?" Elaine asked Trish and Teaghan as they stepped on to the school's front oval.

"It's nine eighteen," Trish said looking at her watch and stepped forward and hear a crunch and a loud snapping before she felt a ripping, burning and crushing pain in her right leg before stumbling over. She started screaming as she looked down and saw a bear trap wrapped tightly around her right shin. Teaghan leaned over and tried to open the trap, freeing her mother, but Trish looked at her daughter, smiled assuredly and shook her head.

"Teaghan … It's no use. I'm stuck here," Trish said trying to block out the pain. "You two run ahead … I don't doubt whoever the killer is will be here soon to try and kill all three of us. Better me than you."

"No, mum! Don't do this! We can get you out!"

"No, Teaghan … you can't. Go, run! Keep safe!"

"No, I won't leave you," Teaghan said trying to force open the trap, only cutting her finger in the process. She cried out in frustration and felt hot tears spilling across her face.

"Teaghan, come on, let's go!" Elaine said pulling on the other girl. She didn't want to leave the woman either, but she knew she would have to, for the killer, like Trish said, would surely be coming for her.

"Fine," Teaghan said and looked her mother in the eye before wrapping her arms around her and hugging her tightly. "I love you, mum. I'm so, so sorry!"

"It's okay … just live! Don't let them get you, either, please."

"I won't, mum," Teaghan said and ran off with Elaine. Trish closed her eyes when her daughter went out of sight, but still did not scream in pain. In fact, as long as she did not move, the contraption did not hurt that much, it was just very uncomfortable and constricting. She sensed the walking towards her and opened her eyes. She wanted to see her killer before they had their way with her. When she opened her eyes, she looked shocked.

"So it's you … is it," she stated and the killer nodded. "I never would have thought you had it in you."

The killer walked up to Trish and wrapped their hands around her throat and started to squeeze. They kept squeezing until they heard a slight snap as Trish ran out of air and her oesophagus snap. Trish passed over to blackness and died, hoping that the killer would not harm her daughter.

Chris Haggie worked alone. He did not need any help searching for two stupid bits of technology. He marched on to the oval just in case they had stashed their phones by a tree or something. He walked over by the trees of the oval when he stepped on a thin wire that he heard snap. He froze and looked around when suddenly a pick-axe swooped around from behind a tree and hit him in the stomach. He doubled over in pain and started to crawl away.

"Help," his wheezy voice tried, but fail to yell out. Chris kept trying to call for help but could do nothing. He heard the familiar sound of the ride-on lawn mower start up and start moving his way. He knew that the killer was after him now, and that he was next. But even though he braced himself, the feeling of the lawn mower running over his legs still caused him to scream in pain and agony and the lawn mower moved forward, up his legs and onto his back, but by the time the blades of the mower reached Chris' back, Chris had gone into shock and died.

Teaghan and Elaine, literally, ran into James, Justine, Daniel and Dylan. Both girl's faces stained with tears, and they looked weak and tired.

"What happened?" Dylan yelled in a panic. "Where's Trish, Teaghan? Where is your mum?"

"D … D … Dead," Teaghan whimpered and collapsed into Dylan's arms.

"We have to get out of this place," Dylan said with an arm around Teaghan's waist. He looked at Justine emotionally. He didn't care if he, or any of the others got out of the school, as long as Justine got out, Dylan could die a happy man.


	10. Crunch

_Crunch!_

Jackie took hold of Ryan's hand, feeling a large amount of fear and intimidation being around teamed up with Jessica and Jordan. Neither pair had ever spoken a word to each other, not even a 'hello' in the hallway, or even the class room. They were as different as a cat and a dog.

"We have to stick together though," Jessica announced, attempting to sound cheerful and assured of their safety.

Jackie did not want to announce her thought that she may be safer alone, because for all she knew one of the three people she stood with could be _the _killer, but deep down she knew that Jessica was right. That she was safer in a crowd.

"Over there," Jordan pointed towards the tech studies room. "I remember Jade saying something about hiding it near one of the machines in the metal work half of the room."

"If I were a dead body, where would I hide?" Daniel asked rhetorically to no one in particular. James punched his arm and hissed at him.

"Now is not the time for jokes," James said and finally allowed a single tear to roll down his cheek. "I don't know if we'll survive this, but I want to at least try!"

"We'll be fine," Justine said.

"Yeah, of course we'll be fine!" Eilish said enthusiastically. "Don't give up hope!"

"You can never give up hope," Anne whispered. "Hope and faith is what keeps us going. A hope that there's reason for us to pull through this, and faith that that reason is strong enough to keep us alive."

"So you're saying that as long as we hope, and hope, and keep our faith that God will save us, Anne?" Dylan asked, sceptically.

"Religion has nothing to do with it," Anne said. "Human will is strong!"

A pair of arms wrapped themselves around Teaghan's crying form. She jumped with a start, thinking that the killer had finally come for her, but when she turned around it was just Elaine comforting her.

"You're not the killer, are you?" Teaghan half-joked and Elaine half-laughed.

"No, I'm not," Elaine promised. "How are you holding up?"

"I shouldn't have left her, I feel terrible."

"There's nothing you could have done."

"I know … but I still should have tried harder."

"Should we check the gym?" Rachel asked Gary after exiting the music room. She was confident that Gary was not the killer. He wouldn't have killed his own twin, surely.

"Yeah, okay," Gary mumbled not really caring anymore if they got out or not. He just wanted his revenge on the bastard that killed Adam.

"Come on," Rachel said calmly, taking Gary's hand and leading him to the gym. "Maybe a teacher, like Josh, brought their phones and left it in there."

"Maybe," Gary mumbled again and nodded, following Rachel's footsteps as if she were dragging him, but he showed no resistance. He stepped in front of Rachel when they reached the gym entrance door.

"What are you doing?" she asked quietly.

"If it's a trap … I don't want to see you get hurt," he admitted and pushed the door open slowly and sighed in relief when nothing happened. They walked through and walked through the wooden doors into the hall itself and stepped forward until Rachel slipped over.

"Oh my God!" she yelped, looking up. Gary saw what she had tripped over, blood, and followed her eyes up to the wall above the door where crucified like Jesus Christ, with a garden rake instead of a pike sticking out his side, and stuck to the wall with several nails shot in by a nail gun was Cole Bryce.

"He's dead," Gary whispered and helped Rachel up before both of them ran from the gym, forgetting to check to see if there was anything in the PE office.

Helen and Jill walked in to the library together, with Jill a few paces in front. They had decided to check to see if anything could be found upstairs in either the library, the librarian's office or even the storage cupboards behind the library.

Jill walked over to behind the desk and started rummaging through papers, folders and books that had been sprawled over the place. Helen started going through the cupboards and drawers.

"Maybe there's something in the office," Jill said frustratingly, and Helen wasn't sure if Jill was talking to herself, or her. She just watched as Jill pushed open the door and there was a slight, soft crunching noise and Jill froze. Helen stood up and walked over to Jill and saw that a hammer had swung down, and the back of it had stabbed through Jill's forehead. Helen let out a blood curdling, glass splitting scream and ran out of the library.

"I've lost two of my friends on this trip," Russell complained to Dayna, Drake, and Aleisha. Dayna rolled her eyes, as did Aleisha, but Drake felt horrible for his classmate.

"You're not the only one that has lost people," Dayna said crudely. "Grow up and realise that unless we find one of those two stupid phones, more people are going to die!"

"Shut up, Dayna," Drake warned.

"Or what, retard?"

"Or I won't try and stop the killer from killing you when they finally get to you!"

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" she said accusingly.

"Shut up, the both of you! God!" Russell snapped. "Dayna, I have every right to be mourning my friend's death, you cold heartless bitch!"

"Why on earth am I stuck with the Rich-Bitch and the Know-it-All?" Gid complained to no one, but he definitely made it vocal so that the siblings could hear him.

"Oh, put a sock in it you twit," Carol said to him. "People are dying, quit complaining! We have to try and get out of this stupid school!"

"Yeah, we're not exactly thrilled to be stuck with you, either!" Danny said. "Of course _I_ know who the killer is. I've known all along. But I'm not going to tell _you_."

"Oh, do shut up, Danny," Carol snapped at her brother and walked onwards.

"I found it!" Ryan shouted as he pulled the phone out from under the welding machine. Jackie, Jessica and Jordan ran over to him. Jordan hi-fived him whilst the girls congratulated him. Ryan felt proud of himself and was grinning broadly until someone crept up behind Jackie and grabbed her, though none of the three could see who it was that grabbed her.

"Run," Jackie squeaked before the assailant slit her throat and dropped her to the floor. Without looking all three of them ran from the tech studies room.

"Oh, no. Jackie!" Ryan cried as he ran. He felt guilty for running, but he knew he had to. He looked behind him, but could not see Jessica or Jordan anywhere. He pushed the phone inside of the pocket in his jeans and ran back to the art room.

"Come on, Jess," Jordan roared as he ran into the main building and up the stairs. "We have to keep going! Where's Ryan?"

"I don't know," Jess puffed out. She was fit, but she was tired after the sleepless night and full day. "He went a different way after we left tech studies."

The couple ran through the IT department and climbed out of the door leading to the fire escape and climbed up on to the roof.

"We should be safe up here," Jordan said and started pacing around the air conditioners. Jessica sat down, leaning against one and started to cry. She'd just witnessed a girl she'd never put any effort into knowing die and she felt terrible. It was unfair that people were dying on this trip. Jordan walked over and sat by her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"We'll get out of this," he whispered in to her ear before kissing her on the cheek. "I promise we will."

"You don't know that, Jordan. We could die whenever this sick-o decides he's bored!" she said and kept crying into his shoulder. They stayed like that for a moment when Jordan jerked slightly and pushed Jess away. She looked at him in confusion.

"Jess, I know this is terrible timing," he started and pulled a blue velvet box from his pocket and opened it in front of her, displaying a ring with a small, but prominent diamond in the middle. "But will you marry me?"

Jessica was lost for words, she could not say anything and froze but suddenly she hiccoughed and nodded at Jordan.

"Yes, of course I will!" she yelped happily and both of them stood up and embraced in a tight hug before Jordan pressed his lips against Jessica's. They walked over, hand-in-hand to the edge and looked down saw James, Justine, Daniel, Drake, Dylan, Ryan and Lachlan running towards the art room. They felt relieved that Ryan was okay, but wanted to get their attention.

"We're up here!" Jordan yelled and all seven froze and looked up at them. Jess waved them down, but flinched as she heard a slicing and then crunching noise. She turned around and saw a javelin sticking halfway through Jordan's back, the other half coming out through his front.

"Oh no … Jordan!" Jessica cried as Jordan stared at the intrusion before looking at Jessica in shock and pain.

"I … I love you," he wheezed as blood seeped out of his lips. Slowly his body pirouetted and fell from the roof of the building. Jessica turned and saw the javelin had come from a set up trap by an air conditioner.

She looked over the edge and screamed to the whole school.

"You can't have me!" she screamed to the unknown killer and then she did the unthinkable. Jessica jumped from the building, plunging slowly to her own death, but willingly. She did not want the killer to have the pleasure of taking her soul. Her soul would forever belong to Jordan, and she would not let anyone else take it.

James gasped as he watched Jessica and Jordan's bodies fall to the ground and hit the ground with a loud, sickening crunch. Justine jumped and pressed herself against Lachlan, who wrapped his arms comfortingly around her. Aleisha ran around the corner, hearing Jessica scream and saw the bodies before she saw Lachlan comforting Justine.

Daniel closed his eyes and put an arm around, and gripping James' shoulder whilst Drake just stood there in shock.

Gary held Rachel tight as he stared at the bodies. He willed to the high Heaven's that the killings stop.

Ryan's gut felt like it had been punched. First he witnessed Jackie die and then he had to watch as Jessica and Jordan fell to their deaths.

Eilish sobbed herself as Anne cried on her shoulder. She promised herself then and there that if it meant that Eilish would die herself, she would make sure that Anne made it out of this damned school alive!

Russell started punching the home ec building until his knuckles started to bleed and Dayna had to pull him away.

"Calm down, Russell," she shouted at him as the crying, weeping boy struggled against her.

"No, let me go!"

Teaghan and Elaine stood silent and unmoving, unsure on what to do, neither had anyone that they could turn to for comfort and help.

Dylan stood, boiling with jealousy wishing he could be the one comforting Justine right now … but he also boiled with fury at just witnessing his best friend and his best friend's girlfriend die.

Helen could not take it anymore. So many people dying! She was a simple, quiet person, she didn't like death. She didn't want to be put through this.

BJ stood by Ben, Carol, Danny and Gid as they looked motionless at the two crippled bodies.

All twenty-two remaining survivors were wondering the same thing.

Who was the killer … and who was next?


	11. Splat

_Splat!_

"Why is everyone expecting me to have the answers to all of this?" James asked Justine whilst they walked through the grounds together whilst the rest of the survivors ate their food that was made in a different oven than the one that Jayson was cooked in.

"Well, honey," Justine started and took hold of James' hand. "You did kind of volunteer to be our faithful leader!"

"You're not helping," James said forcing a smile. It felt like ever since they got in to this mess, everyone's smiles were forced. Nobody was truly happy anymore. How could they be when they all feared that their death would be next.

"I'm sorry," Justine whispered and gripped James' hand tighter. "Come on, we still have to patrol the grounds a bit longer."

"I wonder who's next," Russell whispered to Dayna. Both teens were huddled away from the others in the kitchen. "The killer is still unknown, though I'm betting it's that Justine girl."

"Shut up, Russell. She was there when Prime got electrocuted," Dayna claimed.

"Maybe he just slipped into the fuse-box?"

"I doubt it," Dayna said shaking her head, but Russell did not want to believe it. He needed _someone_ to blame.

"How you holding up?" Elaine asked carrying a mug of coffee over to Teaghan. Teaghan's face was red and stained from the tears, but she manages a weak smile and took hold of the mug.

"Thanks," she mumbled and took a sip. The warmth seemed to comfort her slightly. "I'm doing okay. I'll manage. I just wish we could get out of here. Did anyone get hold of a phone?"

"We think Ryan may have, but he's in too much shock over Jess, Jordan and Jacks dying," Aleisha said sitting down next to Teaghan. Teaghan's gossiping side of her kicked in when she noticed Aleisha by herself and not latched on to Lachlan, but she did not have the energy to ask about it.

"Can't someone force him to talk?" Elaine asked, getting agitated.

"Would _you_ like to be forced to talk after your girlfriend and two people just died in front of you?"

"Maybe he's the killer?" Teaghan whispered and edged away further.

"I doubt it," Aleisha and Elaine mumbled together.

"Helen, Gary, Rachel," James said walking in to the kitchen. "It's your turn to go patrol. We went looking around the tech studies and moved Jackie's body. I want you three to go move any other bodies you can find."

Neither Gary nor Helen could say anything. They couldn't find the strength to do so, and Rachel was holding onto Gary to comfort him.

"We'll do it," Rachel nodded and lead the two teenagers from the kitchen.

"The rest of us, move back to the art room," Justine ordered and opened the door and nodded at the people shuffling out, doing a head-count. Everyone was still there.

"You okay, Dylan?" Justine said putting her hand on the boy's muscular back.

"No, not really," Dylan replied honestly. "Jordan and I have been best mates since we were, like, five. And now … he's just … gone."

"I know it's hard to comprehend, and even harder to accept, but you can't give up, we have to keep going," Justine reassured rubbing her hand in circular motions.

"Promise me something, Justine?"

"Anything, Dylan."

"No matter what happens … don't die. If you're the killer, stop now. Please. But if you're not, and I believe with all my heart and mind and soul that you're not, please don't die."

"I … I won't," Justine promised, but she didn't know how to keep that promise.

"Who do you think the killer is?" Aleisha asked Lachlan softly, her fingers tracing shapes on his chest.

"I don't know," Lachlan said lamely, not putting any effort in. His head hurt with worry, and he wasn't sure what to do next.

"Fine, don't talk to me then!" she shouted at him. "Go run to your precious _Justine_," she continued bitterly. "Maybe you'd like to talk to her!" Aleisha finished and stormed out of the room. She was furious seeing the obvious affection between Justine and her boyfriend, but she also saw the deeper spark between Dylan and Justine. She didn't want Lachlan to get hurt, and she knew that Justine liked Lachlan – it really was no secret, but this thing with Dylan was much deeper.

Aleisha kept walking, stomping and making as much noise on the ground as her small frame would allow. She kept snarling to herself and cursing everyone and everything and the whole trip. She felt a pair of arms go around her, and she knew deep down that it was the killer. She relaxed, knowing there was nothing she could do. The killer leaned over and breathed heavily in to her ear.

"You're a stupid little child, and this is what you get for being a backstabber!" the killer said, and Aleisha recognised the voice and gasped in shock, and gasped again when she felt a knife rip through her back and stab in to her heart. Aleisha Michaels crumpled to the ground and died thinking about the killer and Lachlan, hoping that everyone would get out alive.

"I want to go home," Helen confessed to the other two patrolling with her. "It's not fair! We shouldn't be here!"

"We know, Helen, but there's not much we can do until we either find the other phone, Ryan comes out of shock, or we are somehow able to restrain the killer," Rachel said calmly, though she was starting to go in to panic mode herself.

"Ryan," James whispered, leaning down bringing himself to the same level and giving the boy eye-contact, though James could see that Ryan wasn't really there. He leaned his hand over and shook Ryan by the right shoulder. "Ryan, dude … you gotta snap out of this."

"What?" Ryan whispered, blinking, coming back down to earth. "What's going on?"

"Did you get the phone?" James asked and shook the boy again when he glazed over back into shock. "Ryan, come on. Stay with us."

"Yeah … I did," Ryan whispered.

"Where is it?" James asked and shook him. "Where is it, Ryan?"

Ryan's eyes started to close, and his head went limp, slipping to the side. It would seem like Ryan was asleep, but James knew different. James knew that Ryan wasn't breathing. His fingers went to Ryan's throat for a pulse, but felt no thrumming of a heart beat.

"Does anyone know CPR?" James yelled out and looked over at whoever was left in the art room. Everyone looked sad, and defeated, but no one nodded. No one said yes, or volunteered. "Damn it!" James said again and started to imitate what he had seen in the movies and pushed on Ryan's chest a few times before breathing in to his mouth. After doing this three times, he went back to Ryan's neck to check for a pulse. "No, damn it! You can't die!"

"James," Daniel said, pulling him away from Ryan's body. "He's gone, leave him be."

"No," James screamed. "No one else is going to die! Not if I can help it!" James tried to throw Daniel off, but the older man, though smaller, would not let go of him.

"Someone that's not afraid to touch a dead body, search Ryan and try and find a phone," Daniel shouted out and then looked at Justine. "Help me get him in to the office."

"Okay," Justine said and grabbed on to James' thrashing arm and pulled him along to the teacher's office.

"How … How many of us are left?" Anne stuttered, unsure and scared. When Eilish did not answer, Anne tugged on her sleeve and repeated the question.

"Oh, um, I think there are about … twenty of us?"

"Exactly twenty of us left," Lachlan said walking past the girls. "Aleisha's body was just found."

"Oh, no," Anne gasped and stood up the hug Lachlan. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Lachlan said and smiled reassuringly.

"First your best friend, and now your girlfriend," Eilish stated slowly in a low whisper. "Everyone is losing someone."

"I found it!" Dylan shouted out pulling out the phone from Ryan's pocket. "Oh, damn it! There is no signal in here!"

"How much power is left?" Drake asked, quickly pulling his hands away from the body.

"Not very much," Dylan said and groaned.

"Turn it off," Gid said softly. "We'll turn it back on when we need it."

"This is so God-damn stupid!" Teaghan screamed loudly, kicking a stool over. "Who ever this messed up killer is, I'm going to freaking kill them myself!"

"Calm down, Teaghan," Ben hissed.

"Yeah you stupid mole," BJ called out. "You threaten the killer, and you'll be next."

"What ever, dumb-ass," Teaghan said giving BJ and Ben daggers with her eyes. She heard a slight noise that sounded similar to the noise cogs made when they turn and looked up only to see the ceiling fan that was oddly spinning, fall from the ceiling. She barely had time to scream out loud before one of the fan blades slashed through her neck and spinal column, splattering her blood over the floor and making her head fall to the ground. Eilish screamed and the two boys flinched as Teaghan's blood splashed on to them.

James, Justine and Daniel walked out of the room and saw the body. James collapsed on to the ground and Justine screamed slightly and rested her forehead on Daniel's shoulder.


	12. Gasp

_Gasp!_

"Hey Lachlan," Justine said cuddling up to the boy's side. She smiled warmly when his arm wrapped around her side, pulling her close to him.

"Hi, Justine," he mumbled absently, staring out the window. "How are you?"

"I'm okay, I guess. How are you?"

"I'm alright, I suppose," Lachlan said to her and tried to smile reassuringly. "I don't think _he_ likes you being there though."

Justine's eyes followed Lachlan's and saw Dylan sitting at the table glaring at them. Justine's stomach turned with guilt. She knew the boy was developing feelings for her, and she felt guilty for not stating that they could only be friends.

"He'll survive," Justine whispered unsure. "Do you know who found Aleisha's body?"

"I did," Lachlan confessed. "Stab wound through the heart."

"Oh," Justine said remorsefully, and she honestly felt bad.

"Died of a broken heart I guess," Lachlan said with a slight smile. He looked at Justine and smiled. "Come for a walk? It'll be raining soon."

Dylan's stomach turned with jealousy as they left the art room, but he tried not to show it. He wanted Justine to be happy, and he thought that Lachlan could supply said happiness at such a time. Dylan just hoped that the killer would not take Lachlan away from Justine.

"Do you think that we'll get out of here?" Anne asked Eilish in a weak, soft voice. Fatigue as taking over, and she desperately needed to sleep.

"Of course we will," Eilish promised, though she wasn't entirely sure she could keep such a promise. "It's hard to believe that three days ago, we were dying to get in here…"

"Now we're dying to get out," Anne finished.

"Right," Eilish whispered.

Ben walked over to Carol and Danny, who were at the table eating … well, Danny was more so asleep in his cereal. He felt like apologising for being an asshole towards the two, though he couldn't apologise for BJ.

"Hey you two," he said and Danny jumped up, splashing the cereal down his clothes.

"Who's that? Is it the killer?" Danny shouted.

"No, worse," Carol said.

"Oh, it's you," Danny said looking at Ben. "Go away."

"Blow me, Danny, I came to apologise, but if you want to be an ass, then go die."

"You may think I never noticed you," Lachlan said entwining his fingers with Justine's. Justine felt odd about this show of affection after his girlfriend had just been murdered, but she couldn't bring herself to complain. She just squeezed his fingers between hers. "But I did notice you, every day."

"Really?" Justine asked lamely. She felt like a child, looking at Father Christmas, and there was a million little butterflies flying around in her stomach.

"Yeah, I did," Lachlan said, not flinching once when the rain started to pour on the two. "I planned on breaking things off with Aleisha, because I wanted you."

"Lachlan," Justine whispered, but Lachlan cut her off.

"No, listen to me. I want to be with you forever, even in death," Lachlan confessed and closed his eyes slowly. The rain became heavier, but other than the slight drumming of the rain on the cement, and the coming thunder, there was no noise. For all Justine knew, the killer could have run her and Lachlan through with a javelin killing them both, but her raging heart beat told her different.

Lachlan turned to face Justine, his eyes still closed, but not tightly. A smile crept slowly over his face. He closed the space between the two and wrapped his arms around Justine's waist. Her breath quickened and her heart thumped harder and faster. She gasped loudly as Lachlan lightly kissed Justine, and though she had experienced it before, it was completely different. She had the freedom to kiss him back, so she did. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around the boy's neck, pulled him closer and kissed him back harder. She felt Lachlan try to pull back away from her, and she hesitated before letting him go. Lachlan stepped back, looking Justine in the eye and then groaned, his face wearing a pained expression.

"What's the matter?" Justine whispered, but Lachlan did not listen. He looked at Justine apologetically before running off away from her, leaving her in the middle of the school, by herself with a killer on the loose. But that is not what bothered her. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she looked on after Lachlan running from her. Rain rammed Justine form each direction and eventually she just walked away after realising that Lachlan would not be coming back to her.

"Are you feeling better now, dude?" Daniel asked James, who felt weak, exhausted and drained.

"I'm fine," James assured with a smile. "I just didn't think that some of us wouldn't survive this trip."

"James," Daniel sighed and put an arm around the sixteen-year-old boy, comfortingly. "No one thought that there would be a serial killer on this trip."

"I know, but this trip was supposed to be fun! A week in the school doing whatever we want. Getting drunk on snuck-in booze, trashing the place. We weren't supposed to be running for our lives."

"You wanted to get drunk?" Daniel asked in a childish manner. "I never took you to be someone to get drunk."

"I'm not, but that's what people wanted to do. I just wanted to have fun, to be able to let loose, but now … we're all fighting for our lives."

"Is Lachlan here?" Justine asked walking in to the art room. She was drenched to the bone, and she looked exhausted.

"No, he hasn't been here since you two left. You don't think that the killer got to him, do you?"

"I hope not," Justine said softly, almost inaudible. "Who else isn't here?"

James and Daniel looked around the room at the few people who were either sitting together or asleep.

"Dylan, Russell and Dayna."

"I'm going to go find Lachlan," Justine said and ran from the building. James sighed and thought about chasing after her. He so wanted to, but he couldn't muster the energy to do so.

"She'll be fine," Daniel said, seeming to know what James was thinking.

"Yeah, I know she—" James went to say but was cut off by a smashing noise as a window was smashed. A javelin pierced its way through the building and impaled Carol through the chest, pinning her to the table.

"Carol, no!" Danny, who was covered in his sister's blood, screamed. There was a silence in the room except for the sudden thud as Carol's body slid down the javelin and hit the table. That's when Eilish screamed and everyone ran from the art room.

"What's happened?" Dylan asked Justine as he caught up to the girl. He was worried that maybe someone had been killed.

"It's Carol, she's been killed," Justine said breathlessly. She just kept running, though Dylan easily kept up.

"Where's Lachlan?" he asked.

"I don't know," Justine said, upset. "I'm trying to find him!"

"I'll help you," Dylan promised and they kept running.

Gary grabbed Danny by the collar of his shirt and pushed him against the wall of the Performing Arts Centre stage. Elaine and Rachel were also with them, hiding from the killer.

"You think you know who the killer is, you bastard?" Gary shouted, spitting in Danny's face. "Who is it then? Huh? Come on, tell us!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Danny asked, nervously. He looked around at Elaine and Rachel, but both girls had a blank look on their face. Danny sighed angrily and said in an 'uh-duh' voice; "it's quite obviously Justine."

"How do you figure?" Elaine asked.

"The grudge against Stef, being in the music room around when Matt was killed, the lust of Lachlan driving her to kill Aleisha, they're all perfect motives for murder."

"But she's been around others when they've been killed," Rachel protested. "She was there when Jordan and Jess died."

"It was a mechanically propelled, you idiot," Danny said spitefully and Gary punched him in the mouth.

"Don't you talk to her like that," he warned. There was a sudden creaking noise and everyone looked up to see one of the lights come loose and were ready to fall. Danny looked at Gary and pushed him out of the road before the light collapsed on to Danny, crushing the boy's back and killing him instantly.

Everyone stared at the body for a moment before they heard footsteps heading towards them from the foyer. Gary stood prepared to fight facing the door.

"No, Gary! Come on, we've got to run," Rachel yelled dragging him away. They were both out of site before Elaine could react. She did not know where to go, so she ran behind the projection wall, where it was pitch black and was impossible to see anything. Because of her small frame she was able to sit behind a movable microphone stand and wait until the killer left the Performing Arts Centre. She heard soft footsteps behind her and she held her breath, hoping to be safe. There were no sounds and she started to panic. She knew the killer was right behind her but they weren't moving.

Then there was a sharp, burning pain in Elaine's stomach as a large knife cut through her. She gasped and looked down at the intrusion before feeling her eyes grow heavy and slump forward. She was dead before the killer yanked the knife back out of her body.


End file.
